The Testers
by Night Of Raining Flames
Summary: When the Hive created Dr. Zuk, they accidentally gave him a personality. A dangerous, mad scientist personality. When he traps twelve kids who just wanted to play minigame The Lab inside the game, they're right to be scared. Surrounded by computers and Artificial Intelligence, they have to find a way out before they're all gone. The problem? There isn't one.
1. Prologue

**I don't own Minecraft, unfortunately.**

* * *

"The pie is a lie!" A villager shouted down at a group of blocky players attempting Balloon Pop. Only the newest players looked up, losing valuable time and points. Most players

kept shooting at the balloons. The villager looked down again; it appeared time was up.

"Excellent!" he said through the invisible speakers. After the gamers had all been teleported to the final area and he made his speech about putting the goggles back(They really were expensive, but the players would never know), and the players had all been reloaded back to the Hub, the villager, more well known as a scientist, sat back and sighed.

He hated playing along with the Hive. The game creators had, most likely accidentally, given him a personality and a genius brain along with a voice. Mistake 1. Being a genius was one thing, but being a genius trapped inside a computer screen with no company (other than the AIs he created, but most of them weren't the type to talk about intellectual stuff,) was another. Unfortunately, it appeared they hadn't made that mistake again, as far as he knew of. That made it very boring, saying what he was supposedly programmed to say, with nothing new added. He had started ad-libbing the script at first, until the Hive coders had supposedly "fixed" his code. Really they had just given him a mental checklist of what to say. But none of that mattered anymore. He walked to the back of the starting lab, the part players couldn't get into, and checked the computer.

 **Progress 98%…99%…100%**

 **Project Snare ready for deployment**

The villager smiled, but it wasn't a nice or happy smile. It was the kind of smile when you know that absolutely nothing can get in your way from this point. It was the mad genius kind of smile. The project he had been working on since he realized he didn't have to be alone, he could take revenge, was completed at long last.

"The next players of LAB12 have a special treat waiting…" Dr. Zuk whispered.

* * *

 **And thus, the prologue is complete!**

 **Welcome to The Testers, my first real fanfiction!**

 **So, I have some review replies from the SYOC (Just skip if you don't care :) )**

 _ **Diamond- Yeah, I can do that. Sounds cool! Have cookies! (::) (::) (::)**_

 _ **Third Cosmic Velocity- Don't worry, the humans will be arriving soon. Veerrrryy soon. Cookies! (::) (::)**_

 _ **Rebel- O.o You gonna be all right? Eh, have more cookies! (::) (::) (::)**_

 _ **Raiden The OC- Thanks for guessing! Here's some fresh cookies! (::) (::) (::)**_

 _ **ParadoxxFoxx- *noms cookie* Thanks! Have more cookies! (::) (::) (::)**_

 _ **MetaCrisis DR- Thanks for the AI! Have a cookie, doughnut, and brownie! (::) [] (o)**_

 **Okay, that's done! This story is OC-centric. (Duh, I had an SYOC for this.) If you do not like stories like that, stop reading now.**

 **And constructive criticism is always appreciated!**

 **See ya later,**

 **Night :3**


	2. Chapter 1- Players

**I didn't gain ownership of The Lab, HiveMC, Minecraft, or most of the OCs in the last couple of minutes :(**

* * *

 **WolfNeko43 has joined the game.**

Emma Dansoun grinned at the computer screen. After finally getting the Mac away from her younger brother, she was logged on to her favorite game of all time- The Lab, creation courtesy of TheHiveMC. She remembered how hard it had been to get in a game when it had first been released, and how now it was so easy. Emma really couldn't imagine why.

 **DaMiningKing101 has joined the gam** **e.**

Darren Wright glared at the computer. After weeks of being jokingly teased about his PvP mastery but apparent inability to play minigames by his best friend, he had finally caved and promised to try this one time, just to prove that he could too be the best at games without killing. Not like he was bad at minigames. Not at all.

 **xXSpiritfeatherXx has joined the game.**

Sophie Gareth observed the computer screen, looking at the other players currently in-game. None of them looked like big threats, but you can't tell until they reveal their hidden talents. That was good. She needed this win to beat her friend in points in her home court- this game. She was currently winning the contest they had going, and needed this win to stay in first.

 **TheDiamondArcher has joined the game.**

Diamond swung her mouse around, examining the other players. Hopefully, it would be an interesting game. She moved off the spawn point and was going to try to jump on something to pass the time when a block in the peripheral of her screen glitched into rainbow. She spun around to look at it, but the rainbow was gone. Diamond shrugged and turned back to her goal of getting to the top, briefly wondering if there was a glitch.

 **TaztheGrimm has joined the game.**

Marcus stepped off spawn feeling good. He was going to win this one, and none of the other players could- okay, blocks aren't supposed to be rainbow. As he watched, the block suddenly fizzed back, like nothing ever happened. He started hitting with his fist to see if it would do anything, but it didn't react. Okay, they need to fix that, he thought. Maybe it's the texture pack they use for sounds acting up...or something. He decided not to worry about it too much. Someone would tell the coders, and they would come fix it.

 **Crystal_Cloud47 has joined the game.**

Sky watched her character spawn in the game with a sigh of relief. Now none of the other kids could come and tell her to get off the computer because she wasn't in a game. Just because she lived in a foster home didn't mean she didn't get computer time, and today she wanted her fair share of it. She saw another player- **TaztheGrimm** \- hitting a block with his fist as if to break it, then turned away. She wondered why he decided to try and break a block of iron. Not the smartest thing to do!

 **MM-Sfall has joined the game.**

Richard bounded off spawn with what would have been contagious energy had there been anyone around him. He looked around at the new game, momentarily disappointed that there wasn't any lobby parkour. He shrugged. (Or would have, if there was a way to shrug in Minecraft without mods.) He and his friend had begun some kind of dare to start challenging each other to different games. He scanned the lobby, feeling a flash of irritation that said friend wasn't here yet. Ah, well, he did say he might miss this round because of his sister's soccer or whatever...

 **EnderExile2 has joined the game.**

Daniel walked off spawn, watching the jumping kid as he stopped and looked around. He frowned. His brother, in coaxing him to play the game, said one of the minigames had TNT in it, but none was visible. Well, that could also be because they were just in the lobby, but still. His sibling had specifically said nothing about redstone, which probably meant there wasn't any. Daniel sighed. Oh, well, he was here now, wasn't he? Might as well play.

 **ParadoxxFoxx has joined the game.**

Jesse grinned as he spawned into the game. The Lab was still one of his favorite games even after all the hype had gone down. And when his old foster family showed him how to- He cut himself off, his smile fading momentarily. Bad Jesse, he scolded himself, you know the past is the past. He shoved it to the back of his mind and focused on the game again, scanning the players while noting the game would begin soon. The back of his neck prickled suddenly, giving him the feeling he was being watched. Jesse spun around. No one was there. The home was as empty as it had been when he started playing.

 **RaidenGuyThing has joined the game.**

Raiden shifted in his seat, trying to get used to all the fluff that had been placed on his chair to make it more "comfortable". He sighed, barely noticing that he had, in fact, gotten into a game with only three spots left, one of which he now occupied. He decided to ignore the weird fluffy thing for now and focus on the game and how to make it more interesting. No, no hacks, but there had to be something he could do. It had to be random, cool, and weird. Hmmm... How about a smiley face in the paintball one? Or in Splegg?

 **katelyn-theboss has joined the game.**

Katelyn sent the message to Kyle to join LAB12 now. One spot left, and if he didn't get in she would kill him. Only figuratively. Probably. She jumped onto the fake desks, bored, wondering what the heck was taking her brother so long. She jumped past some other players and slid to a stop near the wall. She turned around to start again. Hurry up, Kyle!

 **Virtual has joined the game.**

Nel frowned as **katelyn-theboss** jumped past him for the fourth time. From the way she was sprinting around, she was either anxious or bored. Of course, with a video game character, it was hard to tell any emotions, but still. His phone buzzed near his arm, alerting him that the client had decided to netiogate the price further down. He snorted. Of course that wasn't going to happen, not with what was on the line, but that could wait. He had a game to win.

 **5...4...3...2...1...**

All twelve players were teleported to the area in front of the lab, as per usual for the start of the game. The villager-scientist came out, walking toward the minigame machine.

"Hmm... I expected better, but these will have to do."

Emma tensed. She knew this line, and that was not how it went.

Sky frowned. Was that a new one?

Marcus raised an eyebrow. Maybe his theory about the malfunctioning texture pack wasn't far off.

"Now, before we get started, there's a little thing we have to do."

Sophie's eyes widened. This was definitely different, to say the least.

Darren bit his lip, sensing something was about to happen, and ten to one it wouldn't be good.

Nel leaned forward in his chair. Something was going on, and he wasn't sure he liked it.

Dr. Zuk brought out a small remote with a green button on it. (Red was _much_ too clique.) "This here is a very important device. I could tell you what it activates," he smirked, although as of now the players couldn't see it, "But it would be so much easier to show you."

He pressed the button.

An automatic voice rang through every computer speaker and for good measure, the chat as well. **"PROJECT SNARE Activating 3...2...1...**

 **"Project Snare activated."**

Richard bit back a scream as glowing ropes, or what looked like ropes, lashed themselves around his arms and chest. His vision blurred once, twice, then faded away altogether.

Jesse yanked against the bindings, which only tightened in response. His gaze snapped onto the source of the ropes, which was somehow his computer. Suddenly he felt tired, too tired to fight the glowing ropes. As his head dropped to the desk he could have sworn his arm turned to particles, but he was already out by then.

Daniel twisted desperately in the ropes, trying to get free. He managed to jerk one arm loose, only to have it snatched back and pressed to his side. He stopped struggling abruptly as he watched his hand fizz into pixels, reform, and change again, horrified. Or, he was, until he slumped in his chair, out cold.

Diamond screamed, knowing it would do no good since she was home alone. Her arms were starting to feel tingly, like pins and needles, but everywhere at once. The arm went numb, and as she fell against the computer her mind sleepily noted that her limb seemed to have disappeared.

Raiden resisted the urge to yell as loudly as he could, instead choosing to attempt to back away from his computer. It didn't work. The ropes lengthened while still keeping the same tightness. The worst thing, he realized too late, was that they were also draining energy.

Too bad he figured it out as he crashed to the floor.

Katelyn screeched as loudly as she could, bringing Kyle running. He froze when he saw his sister bound by glowing ropes that seemed to be from the computer. When her form pixelated, he sprang into action, attempting to grab a rope to rip it off. It burned his hand the moment he touched it, forcing him back. He watched in horror as she started dissolving, the pixels flowing through the ropes and into the computer. Once the process was done, the cords retracted into the computer screen like nothing happened.

Kyle finally found his voice.

"KATELYN!"

* * *

 **Chapter One is complete!**

 **If you gave me an OC, tell me if they're out of character and how I can fix it!**

 **If you can review with constructive criticism, that would be awesome!**

 **Reviewing at all would be awesome!**

 **Thanks,**

 **-Night :3**


	3. Chapter 2- Awakenings

**Nope, still don't own Minecraft, the majority of the characters, The Lab, or the HiveMC.**

* * *

Diamond groaned. It seemed like too much effort to open her eyes. She just wanted to sleep more, not go to school...

Then she suddenly sat up as it all came back to her. Dr. Zuk, the ropes, watching her arm dissolve. She double-checked her arm to make sure it was still there. It was, but something was off.

I wasn't wearing a jacket!

As she took the fact in, she began to notice other small details. Her hair was longer, she was missing her earbuds, and said hair had turned black.

"Hey, you okay?"

A different girl was standing next to her, her long teal hair hanging down. She wore a light blue hoodie with dark blue pants. Hovering over her head was a thin rectangle that said katelyn-theboss.

Diamond recognized the nametag with a sinking feeling in her stomach. She took a second look at her new clothing, noting the incredible similarities to her Minecraft skin.

No way.

No flipping way.

 **xXx**

Sky blinked, slowly making the return to consciousness. She yawned and sat up, moving her long hair out from under her-

Wait.

She didn't have long hair.

The girl immediately stood up and looked at her new hair, which was definitely longer. She reached up to her head and found a baseball cap-like hat, which she had most definitely not been wearing earlier. She frowned at it as she pulled it off her head to look at it. It was green, and on the back was a feathered wing design.

Her eyes widened. She remembered carefully making that design herself on her Minecraft skin. _Now that I think about it..._

Looking down at her clothes confirmed it: she was now her Minecraft avatar.

Someone groaned near her, and she saw about ten feet away a boy with black and gold hair. A nametag hovering over him read **MM-Sfall** , and she thought back to the player who had dashed in front of her earlier in the lobby.

 _Am I really?_

 _Or is this some kind of dream?_

 **xXx**

Nel allowed himself to be pulled up by the other boy, who introduced himself as Jesse. The kid's bright green hair showed that unless he usually dyed his hair neon colors, something was a bit off.

He pulled down a strand of his own new silver-lavender hair, quickly recognizing it as the color he chose for his Minecraft skin's hair. A quick glance around the room- showing multiple other people in various stages of sitting up- and at the nameplate above Jesse, reading **ParadoxxFoxx** , proved to him what he had already guessed.

"We're in Minecraft," he said calmly.

Jesse looked at him, then down at himself. "No way. That shouldn't be possible."

"It shouldn't," Nel agreed, "But somehow it is."

 **xXx**

Darren groaned as someone shook him. Then they hit him, and the shock snapped him up.

"Ow!" He looked around for his assailant, seeing no one but Sophie's Minecraft player, **xXSpiritfeatherXx**. Wait...

"S-Sophie?" The girl nodded, and pointed to him.

"Darren, right? Unless your username was taken by someone else?"

Username?

He looked down at his new clothing, and only had a second to process what everyone else was figuring out before he was teleported into a standing position in front of the game machine, just like the start of a normal game of The Lab.

 _But teleporting hurts a lot more in person,_ he thought wryly. Some of the groans coming from around him told him that they agreed.

He glanced around, noticing there were multiple people all standing in rows, just like at the start of the game. Unlike the start of the game, Dr. Zuk was already standing in front of the machine, smirking.

"Glad to see you all made it safely," the villager began. "Project Snare had not been tested before, and we were not sure how well it would work."

"What do you want with us?" a girl with blue hair to the left of Darren shouted, cutting off the scientist.

"Katelyn, I was getting to that," he sighed. The girl- Katelyn- flinched back, and Darren realized she had never said her name.

"You all have no idea how hard it is to be alone. How it feels to wish for company. The joy when you think you know how to make it, and the pain when you realize that it's not the same."

"Well, I still don't see what that has to do with us," a boy with dark, spiked,hair snapped. Dr. Zuk frowned.

"Once again, Marcus, I was getting to that. If you don't stop interrupting, I'll have to turn off your chat abilities."

When no one spoke again, he continued.

"I was created by accident, given an incredibly powerful brain by mistake. I thought I knew that I would never be able to experience true human interaction, but I was wrong, for the first time. I never could give up the idea that there were living things out there, living things that could interact with each other.

"That's when I began work on Project Snare. It was momentously hard, but with my assistants helping me, I finally completed it. And it was successful, given that you are all here now."

"Okay, that's great," Darren said, "But what do you want?"

"All right, fine. You are here to play The Lab."

There was a moment of silence, before a girl with a green baseball cap said, "Uh, I think we _were_ here to play The Lab. I don't know about now, though."

"Skyler," the doctor said, impatience evident in his voice. "You are still going to play the game. I just want a chance to observe true emotions."

There was something else behind those words, but Darren couldn't tell what.

A boy with a gold streak through black hair raised his hand. "After we play the game, do we get to go home?"

"Good question, Richard. You will play a series of minigames from The Lab, like normal play. After the three winners are determined, everyone but them will be teleported to a different arena, where they will all compete in a game of my choosing. The two possible endings that could happen are:

"A. The winner gets a small prize that may be useful later.

"Or B. The loser gets punished."

"Erm, what kind of punishment?" A kid with the nametag **EnderExile2** asked.

"That's for me to know and the loser to find out," Dr. Zuk smirked. Darren shuddered. That did not sound good at all.

"How many games are we going to play?" **Virtual** asked. He seemed to be one of the only ones who wasn't completely freaking out.

"As many as it takes." Well, if that wasn't vague, what was? "Are there no more questions?" Silence confirmed it. "Good. Now, I have some... 'people' for you to meet. Luna, Darr, come out, please."

Two figures appeared from the door to the lab. One was a girl with short silver hair who was grinning widely. The other was a male in a white and black tunic who wore a neutral expression.

"These two will be some of your guides here. There are others, who you will meet later."

"Wait." **WolfNeko43** , a girl with purple and blue hair, spoke up. "You said Project Whatever hadn't been tested yet. So who are these people?"

"We're not people," Luna smiled, "We're AI. Artificial Intelligence."

It was so quiet in the room you could've heard a piece of redstone dust fall.

"Is- Is that even possible? Perfect AI hasn't been invented yet!" ParadoxxFoxx questioned.

"Not by humans, at least not on purpose," Darr said, his face not changing a bit at the reactions.

"Well, Darr, Luna, I trust you will show these people to their rooms?"

"Yes, sir," the two responded. The scientist left without a second glance.

"All right, then. Girls, come with me!" the helper called. When there was some hesitation, she sighed. "I'm not going to bite your heads off. Unless you would rather stay out here, and it does get rather cold."

 **Crystal_Cloud47** , the one with the hat, stepped out of line, closer to the AI. When the others gave her questioning looks, she shrugged. "She does have a point. They can't kill us before the games, can they?"

With various degrees of resistance, eventually all the females had been led away.

"Let's get going, boys," Darr said. He turned his back, leaving them no choice but to follow and wonder what the heck they had gotten themselves into by simply playing a game.

* * *

 **Hey, and thanks for reading chapter 2!**

 **Happy late MLK Jr. Day to those in the States, and to those elsewhere… Happy Tuesday?**

 **RANDOM NOTICE: If you did not see the SYOC, my update schedule is every other week, which is why this wasn't updated last week.**

 **Anyways, let's go to review replies!**

 ** _Rebel_ \- Thanks, glad you like it! Cookies! (::) (::)**

 ** _ParadoxxFoxx_ \- Glad that you're excited for it! (::) (::) **

**_Third Cosmic Velocity_ \- No, I did not forget about him. (And if I did and I just don't think I did, I'm sorry!) My plan was to have some characters in that part, then some more in this chapter. I'm sorry if that didn't work out, though. \\\\\ I do have a plan for him, but you'll just have to wait and see. C; Cookies! (::) (::)**

 ** _TheGemArcher_ \- Uh, should I call you Gem now, or just Diamond? XD Have cookies! (::) (::)**

 ** _Raiden the OC_ \- Okay, thanks! And of course you can! Here you go! [] (::)**

 **Oh, the Question of the Chapter: Where in the world are you right now? I'm curious. ;3 No specifics needed, just countries.**

 **Well, see you next time!**

 **-Night :3**


	4. Chapter 3- Meetings

**Sorry, still don't own Minecraft, The Lab, or any of the characters that aren't mine. Disappointing, I know.**

* * *

Katelyn looked around at the large room in awe. Yes, it was a dorm room she shared with **xXSpiritfeatherXx** , or Sophie, as she had learned was her name, but there was more than enough room for both of them, and maybe another person besides. The whole room could be divided in half with a red curtain for privacy, and each wall of a roommate's respective side could be changed color to whatever they wanted. Blocks were available to decorate, although no weapons or anything that could be counted as a weapon was present. There was a large desk, made out of dark spruce wood, with some paper and a couple pens and pencils scattered about in the corner.

The bed was big and soft (she'd tried it already), and there were bookshelves lined with too many books than she could ever hope to read, even with a comic book section. In other words, it would have been the best room ever, if she hadn't been kidnapped to get it.

The girl sighed, fiddling with her new long teal hair. It didn't feel real, even after the ropes, her new outfit, the creepy scientist dude. It felt like one big dream.

If it was, she really wanted to wake up from it. She had the bad feeling it might turn into a nightmare.

"Hey!" Sophie poked her head through the curtain. They had agreed to pull it through while they edited their sides, to surprise the other person. "I'm ready!"

"Okay, I wanna see!" Katelyn stood up, rushing over to the other girl's area. She gasped in spite of herself.

The room was a dark purple, lit up with glowstone at different intervals around the room. Posters of different anime characters lined the walls-she recognized Kirito from SAO among others- and the floor was a checkerboard of dark wood and sea lanterns.

It was a pretty dang epic room.

"You saw mine, so I want to see yours!" Katelyn shut her gaping mouth and nodded, pulling aside the curtain. Her room was a light blue, redstone lamps placed along the ceiling. She had a bed with pastel green blankets, which she and Sophie promptly flopped down on.

"Do you think Dr. Zuk's actually going to let us go?" The first words came from Sophie.

"... I don't know, honestly. He gave us all this stuff, and he seems nice, but something's off with him." Katelyn replied, voicing what she had been thinking the whole time.

"He did take us from the real world without consent," Sophie murmured. "Will he really just bring us back?"

"Like I said, I don't know. But I know one thing, and that's that we need to stick together. So, whatever happens, let's be friends, all right?"

Sophie smiled at her. "All right."

 **xXx**

"So, you're Richard?"

The black-haired boy looked up from the gold blocks he was speckling around his room. "Yup! And you're Raiden, right?"

"Yeah," Raiden replied, grinning. He was fiddling with some neon green wool, placing it in a stripe around his room of many colors. Richard looked at his gold and black room, placing one more of the metallic blocks down before deciding he was content with it.

"You know, this would be really cool if we hadn't been forced into the game and all," Richie said.

"Yeah, I know. What if someone took this technology and used it for a resort or something? Then everyone could have fun, and not be worried about getting home and whatnot!"

"That would be awesome."

"Yeah."

There was a short pause. Raiden spoke up again, suddenly serious.

"Why do you think he brought us here in the first place? 'Observing real human emotions' sounds kind of weird- and a bit crazy."

Richie frowned. "I don't really know. I guess for now, we just have to enjoy the games when they happen, right? Who knows, it might be twice as fun, playing in person!"

"Yeah, you're right!" Raiden began muttering something about 'smiley faces' and 'Splegg' with a mischievous grin on his face.

Richard, sensing the other boy was no longer involved in the conversation, rolled his eyes and went to see if there was anywhere else he could place gold in his room.

 **xXx**

Jesse walked around the corridors of the lab area, lost in thought. His roommates, Nel and Daniel, were still finishing their rooms. (Well, technically Daniel was making some weird redstone contraption thingy and Nel was ignoring him and reading. Close enough.)

The whole prospect of literally being sucked into a computer game just didn't make sense. Well, at least not with the current technology in the real world. So, did that mean that Dr. Zuk was that far ahead of modern tech?

 _That's kind of a scary thought,_ he mused, not really paying attention to what what was in front of him.

"BOO!"

Jesse yelped and stumbled back, just managing to stay on his feet. He glared at the person in front of him, who was wearing a black trenchcoat. The blocks around him were glitching, fizzing into rainbow and reverting back to iron. He was also laughing. Loudly.

"What the heck was that for?!"

"F-for the troll," he managed, barely able to speak.

"Who are you, anyways?" Jesse demanded, still miffed. The boy calmed down enough to talk without laughing every fifteen seconds.

"PAX-12, glitch, at your service." He extended a hand, which Jesse shook, if hesitantly.

"What do you mean, 'glitch'?"

"Well, duh. I mean I am a glitch. A bug or virus or something got in my code and gave me awesome glitch powers."

"Oh, so you're an AI, like Darr and Luna?"

He snorted. "Don't mix me up with those goody-two-shoes. Yeah, I'm an AI, but I stay as far away from Zuk as computerly possible."

Jesse raised an eyebrow at the odd word choice, but made no comment. It did make sense in a way, though, considering there weren't any humans until they were pulled in.

"OI! EMMET!"

The loud shout echoed through the halls. Jesse winced but PAX-12 remained smiling, unfazed.

"That was probably Benji," he chuckled, "He probably noticed the... mess I made with potion bottles."

"WHEN I FIND YOU YOU WILL WISH YOU HAD NEVER BEEN CREATED AND I WILL PERSONALLY FIND AND DESTROY YOUR SECRET STASH OF TROLLING STUFF- Yes, I know you have it, don't bother lying about it- AND I WILL MIX ALL THE POTIONS I HAVE TO GIVE YOU WITH POISON, AND I CAN'T THINK OF ANY OTHER THREATS RIGHT NOW, BUT I ASSURE YOU I WILL COME UP WITH MORE PAINFUL WAYS TO END YOUR EXISTENCE."

"He sounds... mad."

"He should be," PAX-12 said cheerfully. "I did mix most of his potions together, destroy the rest, and blow up part of his lab that wasn't damaged by the chemical reactions of so many potions mixing together."

Jesse stared at him, dumbfounded. After a solid ten seconds of staring at the grinning AI, he asked the first thing that came to his mind-

"Why did he call you 'Emmet'?"

"Hm? Oh, when I was created, my speech was garbled 'cause of the bug/virus thing, so everyone thought I said Emmet instead of PAX-12."

A girl's voice came from behind the wall, probably a couple corridors over.

"No, I haven't seen him, sorry..."

"It's alright, Reya. When I find him, he- no, I changed my mind. I will hurt him so slowly he will wish he was dead, but I'll just torture him until he on the verge of death, then-"

"Okay, okay! Have you checked over there yet?"

"No, I haven't. See you later."

"Bye!"

Footsteps began to thump towards them.

"You might want to get out of here, Seven. He will not be happy if he finds you with me. He might try and kill you too, and then Zuk would get all on my case."

"Wait, my name's not-"

"It is now," the glitch smirked. "Now get out of here, or Benji's gonna come after you with a flaming diamond sword, and that's never good for humans."

Jesse blinked, then nodded and sprinted away. As he turned the corner, the main thought running through his head was that that was one of the weirdest encounters he had ever had.

And he had had a lot of weird encounters.

 **xXx**

"I lost him."

Zero looked up to see a seething Benji at the door. He sighed. "You know it's hard to catch him."

The medic hung his sword up on a rack near one of the three beds in the dorm room. "I know, but I want to punish him!"

The glitch raised an eyebrow. "What did he do?"

"Did you hear the explosions from a while ago?"

"...Yeah?"

"Potions. My lab. Chemicals that shouldn't be mixed together."

"...Ah."

"Yup."

Zero stretched and slid a piece of paper into the book he was reading. "Well, you'll just have to get him when he comes back. He keeps most of his stuff here, so he can't stay out forever." He walked over to a cabinet in the corner and pulled out a box. "Want a cookie?"

Benji made a face but took one anyway. "You have way too many of these."

"You can _never_ have too many cookies."

Benji sighed. "Whatever you say..."

* * *

 **And part one of the bonding chapters is complete!**

 **A bit of info about this and the next chapter:**

 **This one was one I was using to build up relationships in certain character groups.**

 **Next chapter will finish it off and finally start the action!**

 **(Also, if your character doesn't appear in the 'bonding' section, don't freak out! It means they will be featured later!)**

 **Oh! Also, the roommates are as follows:**

 **Katelyn and Sophie.** **Diamond, Sky, and Emma;** **Raiden and Richie, Darren and Marcus. Jesse, Nel, and Daniel.**

 **Let's go to review replies:**

 ** _DarkWolf133_ \- Well, wouldn't you be confused if you got pulled through your computer screen by glowing ropes? XD Glad you like it! (::) (::)**

 ** _Raiden The OC_ \- That's pretty cool! You get an extra cookie for answering the question! (::) (::) (::)**

 ** _Dash master 48_ \- Nice to know I've inspired someone already! :3 I'm sorry I can't PM (family rules) but I would like to hear some of them anyways, if that's alright. Cookies! (::) (::) **

**_Diamond_ \- Heh, glad I got it right! You're from the U.S. too, huh? *hi-fives* Cookies! (::) (::) (::)**

 ** _Third Cosmic Velocity_ \- Yes! I'll be honest, he's one of the characters I have to think about the most to write. (He's also one of my favorites to write. I like a challenge :3) Sorry about the lack of him in this chapter, but he'll be back soon! Asia, hm? That's pretty cool! And thanks for the appearance update! (::) (::) (::)**

 **ParadoxxFoxx- Nice, another American! *hi-fives* (::) (::) (::)**

 **My answer to last chapter's question: America! Spe** **cifically, around the West.**

 **New Question of The Chapter: If you had to pick one element to have as your 'power', what would it be? (Elements: Fire, water, earth, and air. And don't even ask me where I come up with these.)**

 **Also, which part was your favorite? Mine was probably Jesse and PAX-12's. It was fun to write :D**

 **I think that's it! If a character is OOC, tell me! Constructive criticism is always welcomed!**

 **-Night :3**


	5. Chapter 4- Beginnings

**So, this disclaimer thing is getting old. Therefore, this one shall last until the book ends. I do not own The Lab, HiveMC, or any of the characters that aren't mine. I only own the plot, my writing, and my characters.**

 **That's done, let's get to the story!**

* * *

Reya sighed as she pushed the door to her room open. "Benji is chasing Emmet again. With his sword."

Luna snorted. "Again? What is it, like the third time this month?"

"Fourth," the first girl groaned, "And I'm probably gonna have to magically fix the mess. Again."

"Why doesn't he just have Darr do it?"

"He doesn't trust him. Or you, for that matter. You both spend too much time around Dr. Zuk for his liking."

"Hey, he's my creator! I have to have some respect, right?" Luna threw up her hands in mock defense. "And besides, I doubt that he would trust you very much if he knew what you have as a part-time job."

Reya glared at her. "And you won't tell him, because I _like_ being trusted."

"Okay, I won't. But really, all you do is guard. It's not that bad..."

"Yes, but you know how some of the glitches are. They hate anyone who has regular contact with Dr. Zuk."

"Like me." the helper frowned.

"Yeah, well... It was your choice." the mage pointed out.

Luna shrugged and smiled again. "I suppose you're right."

 **xXx**

Sky smiled, finally placing the last book on the shelf.

"You're not done yet?" Diamond mock-complained, flopping down on her bed. Emma chuckled from her section.

The green-capped girl rolled her eyes and turned around, facing the rest of the circular room, which was divided into three instead of two. (There were three people, after all.)

"Actually, I am," she smirked.

Diamond clapped her hands. "Okay! Then, let's... do... something?"

"What about talk? Like, brainstorm ways to get out of here!" Emma suggested.

"Well, all right..." Sky shrugged and sat down in the middle of the floor.

Diamond spoke first, her eyes shut in concentration. "Well... The walls are iron, so we'd need a pickaxe..."

"We'd also have to figure out where to craft it," Sky said. "Have you noticed that if try to craft anything that's like a tool, it automatically takes it from you?"

"I have," Emma muttered. "Maybe it would work in the AI rooms or even Dr. Zuk's room?"

"But we don't know where those are. We would need a map."

The conversation continued in circles, effectively going nowhere.

At least they had all become adjusted to each other. Maybe even friends.

 **xXx**

 **"Hello, everyone!"** Dr. Zuk's voice came over hidden speakers. **"Please report to the front of the lab for today's game! Don't be late, or force-teleportation will be used. Thank you!"**

Nel sighed and shut his book. It was the day after they had all been brought here, by those... ropes, which he was sure were not ropes at all, and they were already being forced to play a game for the doctor. Wonderful.

He glanced at his roommates. Jesse was getting ready to leave, and Daniel was... still sleeping. The green-haired boy noticed this as well. "Uh... Should we wake him up?"

Nel shrugged indifferently. "I would rather not. You can, if you would like."

Jesse raised an eyebrow. "Okay, then, I guess I will." He began attempting to shake him awake, which didn't seem to be working, as Nel left the room.

He adjusted his headphones as he walked, thankful for the relative quiet the empty halls brought. His roommates were just… _loud_. Jesse wasn't too bad, but Daniel seemed to be endlessly making contraptions, then breaking them, then making more. And whenever said contraptions involved pistons, well, there may have been some 'accidental' breaking done.

 _Completely_ accidental. Completely.

Nel finally turned the last corner and came out in the main lobby room. Two of the girls and two other boys were there already, talking to each other in hushed whispers. He chose to sit against a pillar, pulling out his book from earlier. His mind wasn't very focused on the pages, though, instead whirring around Dr. Zuk and his words.

 _He said he 'wanted to study true emotions'. How, exactly? And there's also the threat of 'punishment', which he was annoyingly vague on. That was probably on purpose._

" **Last call! Force-teleportation will commence in 30 seconds. If you are in the main room, please proceed to the starting area in front of the lab**. **Thank you!"** A girl's voice this time, one he remembered belonging to the female AI from earlier. He sighed and put his book back in his bag, which he supposed served as the inventory.

About half a minute later, most of the players were in place, some having just run in. Jesse and Daniel were among the latter. A short beep sounded, and the last stragglers were unceremoniously zapped into place.

The doors hissed open and the scientist himself walked out. He smiled pleasantly at them and was met with reactions ranging from annoyed looks to straight-out murderous glares.

"Well, since we're all here, let's begin." Dr. Zuk said, walking over to the machine. He was about to flick the lever when Marcus asked a question.

"What about the other players that would come into this game? Will they come here?"

Nel narrowed his eyes. That was a good question. If this was really a full-functioning minigame lobby, normal players should be coming in and out. Heck, they should have been doing that when the Project Snare players arrived. Where were they?

The doctor smiled again, although this time it had less friendliness and more...madness. "LAB12 has been removed for maintenance. _Permanently_."

Well, that sounded ominous.

When no one spoke, he smirked and turned back to the machine. "Well, let's see what the machine has in store for us today!"

The slots on the machine whirled around and around, the first one stopping at a glass pane. "Electric Floor!"

The second slid to a stop on a block of wool.

"Balloon Pop!"

The final slot whirred a porkchop into place.

"RC Pig Racing!"

Dr. Zuk turned to the players and held out a button. "Let's begin."

A small click sounded as the button was pressed, the music began, and teleportation started.

Nel smirked to himself as the room began to dissolve.

 _Let the games begin._

* * *

 **Hey guys, and thanks for reading!**

 **First off, I apologize for the short chapter. (I have a reason, though. :) I wanted to keep all the minigame stuff together!) Next chapter should be longer, and the first games will be played!**

 **Now, let's get to reviews!**

 ** _DarkWolf133_ \- Yay! I'm glad you liked it! They are, aren't they? Well, it is Minecraft, and you can do pretty much anything you want (as long as you haven't been kidnapped by a mad scientist, of course.) Nice choices! (::) (::) (::)**

 ** _ParadoxxFoxx_ \- Cool! (::) (::) (::)**

 ** _Raiden The OC_ \- The Avatar is pretty cool. Mmm, cookies... (::) (::) (::)**

 ** _Diamond_ \- You can explode water? That's pretty cool. (::) (::) (::)**

 ** _LadyRythelle_ \- So glad you like it! (Do get your homework done, though. ;3) (::) (::)**

 ** _Third Cosmic Velocity_ \- Nel's back! And lightning, I didn't think about that. You're right, it does have some pretty awesome abilities! (::) (::) (::)**

 ** _Dash master 48_ \- Wow. All of those are amazing! If you write them, tell me! And you are the first person to say Earth. Nice. (::) (::) (::)**

 **My answer to the last question is complicated. I would want fire, but quizzes alternatively give my fire, water, or air. -_- So, I'll just say fire!**

 **New QoTC: If you had one super-power or mutation, what would it be?**

 **See ya later!**

 **-Night :3**


	6. Chapter 5- Games

**Chapter 5 is a go!**

* * *

"So, we get to watch?"

"Apparently so. Everyone's invited."

Omega frowned at Ryder. "Really? Even us?"

"Yeah. Weird, but true."

The blond glitch ran a hand through his hair. "Does he have some ulterior motive? Or-"

Ryder clapped a hand on his shoulder. "You're thinking about it too hard!" he smiled, "He wouldn't do that kind of stuff to us! Plus, it's an observational platform-type thing. He won't be anywhere near us."

Omega raised an eyebrow at the smiling black-haired glitch. "...You really are an idiot."

Ryder chuckled. "Only sometimes!" He walked over to the door. "Are you coming?"

The other boy shrugged, standing up from his seat and stretching. "Yeah, I guess. Better than sitting around here all day."

 _Nothing's going to happen..._ he thought. _So why do I still feel like something will?_

 **xXx**

Diamond felt her feet touch a smooth surface. As her vision cleared, she saw that she was standing on a field of white-stained glass. _So, this is really happening..._

The other eleven were scattered around the border of the arena. Sky caught her eye from the other side of the field and winked. She tried to wave back, then realized she was stuck in place, just like the start of the games when played on the computer.

 **"Welcome to your first game, Electric Floor!"**

Dr. Zuk's voice echoed around the room, coming from invisible speakers.

 **"Now, most of you probably know how to play, but for those who don't, let's explain. When you touch a glass block, it will change colors. The longer you step on it, the more colors it will change. That also applies if multiple people step on the same block.**

 **"When the block turns red, it is 'charged', so to speak. If you touch it, you are out."**

Diamond shifted, ready to begin. After all, she was an experienced player and already knew all this stuff. Clearly, judging by the mutters coming from around her, others felt the same.

 **"And the last person standing wins! Good luck!"**

A computerized voice began counting down. Diamond shuddered involuntarily, reminded of the "Project Snare" voice from the first day.

 **"3...**

 **"2...**

 **"1... GAME START."**

Her body unfroze and she began running, keeping her eyes on the ground to avoid the lethal red patches that were already beginning to pop up.

She leapt over a short line, accidentally cutting someone off. A short buzz and a yelp sounded from behind her, and she risked a glance over her shoulder to see no one.

Whoever had been there was out.

"Sorry!" she called. Looking back at the playing field, Diamond realized that they were down to about five players already, and there was a lot more red on the ground then there was last time she had checked.

She skidded sharply to avoid one of the deadly squares. Looking up, she noticed there were only three le-

A small shock traveled up her body, and she was teleported into the air.

 _Stupid!_ she mentally berated herself. _You should have been paying attention!_

Being invisible, she floated around the room, somewhat bored.

Diamond was not really expecting to fall out of the air when the game ended. It hurt.

Now visible, she groaned and glanced at the small window that had popped up directly in her line of sight.

 **First Place: Crystal_Cloud47-** ** _[+3 atoms]_**

 **Second Place: WolfNeko43-** ** _[+2 atoms]_**

 **Third Place: Virtual-** ** _[+1 atom]_**

Diamond sighed. She would just have to try harder next time.

 **xXx**

Marcus looked around, eyes taking in the new arena. They were standing on a long platform made of green and white clay, and blocks of wool interspaced with TNT and gold as far as his eyes could see. (Which was only about sixteen blocks, but that's still pretty far.)

He frowned, remembering that the best way to win this game was to aim for the gold blocks only. Unfortunately, he had the feeling he wasn't the only one who knew that.

 **"Welcome to Balloon Pop!"** The annoying doctor-scientist-villager guy came over the loudspeaker again. Marcus rolled his eyes. _Does anyone actually need this explained to them?_

While many of the others were undoubtedly having similar thoughts, Dr. Zuk was unfortunately not telepathic, and therefore continued his speech.

 **"Here, the game is pretty self-explanatory! You will pop as many balloons as you can in the time limit! I must tell you, though, some balloons are worth more points than others. The three players with the most points win!"**

A small timer appeared in the corner of Marcus's vision. He frowned at it, swiveling his head around experimentally to see if it would move. It did, stubbornly staying in his line of view.

 **"3...**

 **"2...**

 **"1...**

 **"GAME START."**

Marcus held up the bow that had appeared in his hand and stared at it. How would this work? He no longer had the right click button, but maybe...

He dragged the string back, grinning in triumph when an arrow appeared on the bow. _Farther... Farther... Now!_

He released the arrow towards a TNT block, smirking as the arrow sailed toward its target. _Thank goodness it's easier to aim-_

No one was prepared for the explosion that came next, or the shockwave that came with it. Some of the players shrieked, some misfired the shots they were powering up, and some dropped the bow altogether. Marcus stared at the place where the block had been, feeling a bit shell-shocked. He had never felt an explosion before, yet something was telling him that it could feel much, much worse than that.

He pulled the drawstring back again, this time aiming for a gold block. It hit it straight on, causing a small "ding" sound. He realized he was beginning to hear more of the sound effects going off, meaning that he really shouldn't be slacking off when other people were scoring more.

 **"Excellent!"**

Someone set off another TNT. The experience wasn't as shocking anymore, and the testers all began to recover more quickly. Eventually, even the booms and the shockwaves became nothing more that a momentary distraction. Marcus began hitting more gold, getting more confident as he scored more shots.

Then the timer ran out.

The bow vanished from his hands, and the same window from last game popped up.

 **First: Virtual** ** _[+3 atoms]_**

 **Second: TaztheGrimm** ** _[+2 atoms]_**

 **Third: katelyn_theboss** ** _[+1 atom]_**

 _Second. Not bad._

 _Not bad at all._

 **xXx**

Emma frowned to herself as she appeared onto the stands surrounding the RC Pig Racing track. She was tied with Marcus for third, and she wanted to win. Unfortunately, this minigame just so happened to be one of her worst.

Yay.

She frowned as she remembered how this particular game worked. It seemed like it would be hard, considering they didn't have inventory bars for the emerald and apple to move around in.

And the track also looked much longer, too. Was that because they didn't have a time limit?

 **"Welcome to your final game, RC Pig Racing!"**

Emma covered her ears. Are the speakers louder in here, or is that just me?

 **"Let's explain the game very quickly. Each of you control a pig on the racetrack. You can tell which one is yours by matching the color you will be given to the color the pig is standing on."**

Pigs appeared on the track in puffs of smoke while a window appeared in Emma's (and the other players') vision.

 ** _You are magenta._**

She glanced up, searching out the pig standing on the red-pink wool.

 **"To make your pig move, you must hit the emerald. However, it moves around, so be careful. If you hit the apple, your pig goes back to the start.**

 **"Now, if you were all playing on the computer, the emerald and apple would move around your inventory bar. Unfortunately, you don't currently have one, so we had to improvise.**

 **"In front of you is an invisible grid. The emerald and the apple will move around on that. To summarize, hit the emerald, avoid the apple. Get ready!"**

Emma reached out, feeling the invisible blocks in front of her. Minecraft was such a weird thing to live in, what with the minimal gravity, invisibility, potions, and whatnot.

 **"3...**

 **"2...**

 **"1...**

 **"GAME START."**

The emerald and apple appeared right next to each other in the center of the grid. She tentatively poked the green gem, and when that didn't work, slammed it with her fist. It and the red fruit vanished, appearing in different corners. She smashed the emerald again, not daring to look up at the pigs.

Eventually she got into a sort of rhythm, and started to go faster. That was a bad idea.

Her hand hit the apple, which had popped up right next to the emerald. She hissed in annoyance and looked at the pigs, seeing hers was the furthest behind and the cyan pig was in the lead.

Emma frowned and hit the emerald again. There was no chance of her winning now, seeing as the cyan pig was about to cross the finish line-

Said pig vanished and appeared at the starting line. Obscenities were shouted, most likely by the person who had that pig, along with the sound of something smacking repeatedly against the invisible grid.

Emma smiled to herself and hit the gem again. The game was on.

About thirty seconds later, the game was ended, as the green pig crossed the finish line.

 **First: MM-Sfall-** ** _[+3 atoms]_**

 **Second: ParadoxxFoxx-** ** _[+2 atoms]_**

 **Third: Crystal_Cloud47-** ** _[+1 atom]_**

Emma frowned. _Better luck next time..._

 **xXx**

Sky smirked to herself as she was teleported into the first-place test tube. She looked through the blue-stained glass to see who had gotten second and third.

In the second-place tube, **Virtual** -wasn't his name Nel, or something?- was leaning against the glass, looking uninterested in whatever was going on. Not that much _was_ going on, of course.

In third place, Marcus was smiling to himself. He looked pretty happy with his performance.

 **"Congratulations, winners!"**

Dr. Zuk's voice sounded once again.

 **"Good job on winning the first game! Now, as I said earlier, the losers are to participate in a final game."**

Sky's eyes widened. She had completely forgotten about that.

 **"Today's game will be a version of the survival games! It is slightly different, though, than what you are used to.**

 **"There will be a five-minute grace period, which you can use to get and craft items. You can find armor and weapons in chests, or you can craft them yourselves.**

 **"After the five minutes, you will be teleported back to the center in a deathmatch style. You will fight each other, of course. However, if you die, you will respawn. Therefore, the aim is to die the least. The person with the most deaths will lose, and the person with the most kills will win. Simple.**

 **"Everyone understands? Good, let's get going, then."**

Sky had never seen teleportation from an outsider's perspective before. It was... odd, really. One moment everyone was there, and then they were just gone. Poof.

But something else was wrong, too. Wait-

"Did he just leave us here?" Marcus asked.

"I believe he did," Nel sighed.

"So..." Sky frowned. "Are we stuck?"

"Most likely."

* * *

 **And... finished!**

 **Thanks for reading chapter five!**

 **Now, review replies...**

 ** _DarkWolf133_ \- Of course they do! Wouldn't be interesting without it! And wings are awesome! (::) (::) (::)**

 ** _Dash master 48_ \- Shapeshifting, nice. Have more cookies! (::) (::) (::)**

 ** _Raiden the OC_ \- Yup, the action begins! (and ends for three of them :3) Speed? Cool! (::) (::) (::)**

 ** _Third Cosmic Velocity_ \- Ahaha, thanks! And sure! *gives virtual hug* I'm so happy that I'm getting him right ^\\\\\^ Yeah, that does sound like a god-mode power, but still pretty awesome! (::) (::) (::)**

 ** _Diamond_ \- Ehehe, sorry 'bout that! Invisibility, that's a cool one. (And I love that you love the story, just make sure to get you studying done! [And thanks for the extra backstory!])** **(::) (::) (::)**

 ** _Kitty lover300_ \- Thanks for reviewing! Italy, hm? Cool! (::) (::) (::)**

 **So, a quick explanation about what happened with the places:**

 **Sky had 4 atoms, which put her one ahead of Nel and Richie, who had 3. The game randomly decided who would get second and chose Nel.**

 **There was a three-way tie for third between Emma, Marcus, and Jesse, who all had two. The game randomly chose Marcus.**

 **My answer to last week's QoTC: Hmm... I gotta go with either elemental powers for superpowers (fire, water, etc.) or wings for mutations.**

 **New QoTC: What's your favorite anime or cartoon?**

 **That should be it! See ya next week,**

 **-Night :3**


	7. Chapter 6- Escapades

**Let's hop to it!**

* * *

Raiden tapped his fingers against his leg impatiently. He was currently stuck on the (boring) stone podium in a (boring) circle with the other testers. (Or were they tributes now? He didn't know.)

It was a basic Survival Games set-up, with a thick forest to his left. He could see the top of a stone structure over a hill to his right. The Cornucopia was in the middle of a valley, surrounded by the (still boring) stone platforms.

He sighed. Wonderful, a murder game. Just the right way to end the day.

 **"Hello, remaining Testers!"**

Dr. Zuk's voice blared through the room. Raiden was no longer surprised at the fact that there didn't even seem to be a ceiling, let alone a place to put a speaker.

Then again, this was Minecraft, which tended to screw logic on a daily basis.

 **"Everything has already been explained, so let's jump right to it!**

 **"3...**

 **"2...**

 **"1...**

 **"GAME START."**

Raiden chose to head straight for the group of chests in the middle, seeing as there wouldn't be a bloodbath because nobody could die. Unfortunately, it seemed like almost everyone else had had that idea, leaving almost nothing left by the time he reached the chests.

He flipped through the one closest to him, finding pork chops- _Someone left food behind?_ \- and a fishing rod. Not great, but it would do until he found a better weapon.

He quickly scanned his surroundings, wondering where to go from here.

 _Most people probably went towards that stone thing... So, to the forest?_

 **"4 minutes remaining!"**

Raiden had an idea.

He causally smashed the dirt he was standing on, going after the lines next to it as well. Soon he had thirty-four pieces, which would hopefully be enough to do what he was planning.

He flipped through the chests, placing down dirt and picking up random items that were pretty much useless -wooden hoe, anyone?- until he ran out of dirt.

He frowned. Not exactly right, but close enough.

Raiden spun around and dashed into the trees, hoping to whatever deity happened to be in Minecraft that some chest was still un-looted.

 **xXx**

"No way, he actually did that?"

"You're kidding."

"No, he did! It's right here!"

Benji, Omega, and Ryder were crowded around a computer screen displaying the most recent antics of Raiden, or Tester Number Ten. Zero watched them, trying to figure out what was going on that they were so excited about.

Reya and Luna were checking some of the other monitors, and Darr was watching Number Twelve with interest. PAX-12 was who-knows-where, probably hiding in a corner waiting for an unsuspecting victim to come along.

Ryder hit a rewind button, fast-backwarding the video to a certain point. "Here! Now watch!"

Zero crept forward to get a better look, the girls ignored them, and Darr pretended the rest of them didn't exist.

The three at the computer burst out laughing. Zero lost his patience. "What is so funny over there?"

"Come over here and look," Benji chuckled. "This kid did something... interesting with the dirt."

Ryder rewound the video again. It showed first-person footage of Raiden, who was at that moment in the footage gathering dirt. He seemed mostly done with it though, as he soon turned to the chests.

"Is he... spelling something?" Zero asked, confused.

"Yup!" Ryder grinned. "Watch!"

In about ten more seconds, Raiden had finished and Zero had fallen out of his chair laughing.

"He... He didn't seriously..."

"He did! Dr. Zuk is gonna be so mad!"

In the chests, Raiden had written-

 **DR ZuK Suk.**

 **xXx**

Marcus smashed his fist against the glass for the umpteenth time. "Why. Won't. This. Stupid. Thing. Break?!"

"The plug-in that keeps players from breaking blocks when playing the game must still be in effect here," Nel frowned, looking at him from his cross-legged position on the floor.

"At least you have something to read," Sky complained. "It's boring in here."

"Didn't you bring anything?"

"I didn't," she snapped, "I only have some blocks left over from-oh. _Oh._ "

"We can't place them, though, so they're kind of useless," Marcus sighed, slumping against the glass wall.

"What blocks are they?" Nel asked.

"Well, I have a command block I was playing around with and forgot to get rid of. It has a heck of a lot of restrictions on it, though. You can't kill or teleport or anything that could possibly be useful."

"Do you have anything to power it with?"

"...No..."

There was a long pause, filled only with the sound of pages being turned. Eventually those noises ceased too, as the second-placer began to get an idea.

"Got it!"

Sky shrieked and Marcus hit his head on the tube wall. "What the heck was that for?!"

"Sorry,"-he didn't sound sorry at all- "But I think I might have figured out a way out of here."

"What?!"

"What is it?!"

"Well," Nel smirked, "How much do you know about coding?"

 **xXx**

Sophie ran up the stairs, her feet making a rhythmic thunking sound. The stone tower proved to have many floors, probably at least fifteen, and her goal was to get to the top first, where all the chests wouldn't have been looted yet.

She could hear someone running behind her, most likely with the same goal in mind.

 **"Three minutes left!"**

A muted swear came from the other player. Sophie was tempted to curse herself, seeing as the only thing she had was a stone shovel and it was rather difficult to get resources to make a weapon inside a tower made only of stone.

That would've been nice to think of earlier.

On about the thirteenth floor, her pursuer, who she had noticed had green hair in a quick backward glance, abandoned the staircase in search of goods on the current landing. She smiled to herself. _Now, I can get to the stuff withou-_

She was interrupted by a static-sounding crackle, and the loudspeakers coming on. The voice that came out of them, though, was a bit different than the usual doctor.

 **"Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3..."**

It sounded distant, like the person was speaking into a microphone a couple feet away from them.

 _Isn't that one of the boys who won? Why..._ How _are they on the speakers?!_

A muffled girl's voice was next, sounding like it was in the background.

 _ **"Woah, you did it!"**_

A muffled guy's voice this time.

 ** _"I cannot believe it actually worked."_**

 **"Oi, Dr. Zuk, can you hear this? It's Nel-"**

 _ **"Sky-"**_

 ** _"Marcus."_**

 **"And we're still stuck in the test tubes, yes? So kindly come get us out, or I will continue using this to override your systems and say whatever the heck I want. Thank you."**

Sophie stared at the ceiling, incredibly confused. _Wha...what the heck just happened?!_

Well, so the winners were still stuck in the test tubes, or something. That must suck for them.

 **"I apologize for that."** It was Dr. Zuk's voice this time. **"I do not know how they managed to get into the speaker system, but-"**

 **"We can continue doing it if you don't get us out. So please do, before Marcus starts swearing over the speakers."** Nel interrupted again.

 **"Well, then kindly get off the speakers, or I won't send someone to get you out."**

There was a silent pause, then a click sounded, meaning one (or maybe both) arguers had gotten off the system.

Sophie stood still, dumbstruck. _That... was officially one of the weirdest conversations I have ever heard. And I play video games regularly._

She stayed frozen for a few minutes longer until she heard footsteps behind her. _Crap!_

She took off. Maybe she would make it to the top and the other guy would go for a different floor.

 **"Two minutes!"**

 **xXx**

The AIs were... confused, to put it lightly. Someone had just managed to hack the un-hackable speaker system, which PAX-12 had been trying to crack for almost a year now.

Said glitch, who had appeared in the room sometime during the announcement-argument, was on his own computer, tapping away at the game's command log. Ryder and Zero were watching over his shoulders, occasionally making corrections to the code PAX-12 was entering.

Reya had taken over watching the monitors, as both Luna and Darr had been called out to go deal with the players currently trapped in the test tubes.

Benji had left when he had realized PAX-12 was in the room. He had muttered something about restocking potions, but it was more than likely he didn't trust himself to resist the impulse to strangle the glitch AI on sight.

Omega was spinning around on the office chair, feeling immensely like a security guard bored out of his mind.

"Aha!" PAX-12 slammed his hands down on the keyboard, startling the two behind him. Ryder fell backwards and into the wall, and Zero almost fell but kept his balance. "What?" Zero demanded. "What did you do?"

"Me? Nothing," PAX-12 grinned like a madman, "Whoever did this, though, is a genius!"

"What? What did they do?" Ryder sat up, rubbing his head.

"Woah..." Zero examined the report the computer was giving. "That is... ridiculously simple, actually."

"I know! And no one would ever think of that loophole because if Zuk had finished it right, it would be closed! Genius!"

"Well, what did you expect? Dr. Zuk can't even get one of his programs to calculate correctly." Omega pushed his chair over to the other glitches on the laptop. "What did he do?"

"So, you know how Dr. Zuk put all those restrictions on the command blocks to keep the humans from escaping?" Ryder explained, gesturing excitedly. "Well, turns out he forgot a command, **/broadcast_all**. He probably didn't expect anyone to guess it, 'cause it's a custom command he made to control the speaker system.

"And PAX has been trying to break through the firewalls surrounding the speakers for ages, but who thought that the easiest way was the most obvious?"

"Isn't that a logic rule or something? Occam's Razor?" Omega frowned, trying to recall where he had heard that term before.

"Probably, but point is, the kid who figured it out is pretty dang smart! Guessing an entirely new command and formatting it correctly, not to mention powering the command block, isn't easy."

PAX-12 suddenly sighed to himself and dragged a hand down his face. Zero noticed. "What's wrong?"

He groaned. "Now that this kid's found the loophole, Zuk will fix it and I'll never have gotten to use it! Just when I thought I was done with the mindless hacking, too..."

"Well, he probably hasn't fixed it yet. If you can find one of those command blocks..."

"Yes!" PAX-12 shot out of his seat with renewed energy. "Going to embarrass Zuk, be right back!"

Everyone stared at the door that was swinging shut, looked at each other, and shrugged.

 **xXx**

"I cannot believe that actually worked."

"That was amazing!"

"Thanks..."

Marcus was currently very confused, Sky was excited, and Nel was just pleased it worked.

 **~A couple minutes ago~**

 _"How much do you know about coding?"_

 _Nel was met with blank stares._

 _"Er... absolutely nothing..." Sky confessed. Marcus nodded._

 _The book was moved off his lap as Nel stood up, sighing. "All right, then. You know command blocks are powered with redstone, yes?"_

 _"Of course!"_

 _"No duh."_

 _"Can you throw the command block over to my tube, Sky?"_

 _"Sure, gimme a moment to get it out..."_

 _There was the sound of quiet rustling for a few moments, then a thunk as the command block barely missed the rim of the test tube and hit the floor._

 _"Thanks." Nel held it in his hand, well aware the plugin wouldn't allow him to place the block. He tapped the command input line, causing a mini keyboard to appear in front of him. The boy paused, adjusting his headphones._

 _"What is it?" Sky asked, watching him through the glass._

 _"Dr. Zuk probably used a custom command for the broadcast system. We just need to figure out what it is."_

 _There was silence as the other two processed this information._

 _"You... You want to_ hack the speakers _?!" Marcus managed. Nel raised an eyebrow in an 'I thought that was obvious' fashion._

 _"Well," Sky said hesitantly, "Maybe something with_ _ **/broadcast**_ _? It's obvious, but also easy to remember."_

 _"That's a good idea, but how would it be heard by every- oh, that's clever."_

 _"What is?"_

 _"I'm guessing he had to change the command block so the restrictions could be placed on it, so he probably made a new code type as well._ That's _why it wasn't working when I was messing with it earlier."_

 _"You were-" Marcus started._

 _"Yes, I've been trying to break into the speakers since I found we could use command blocks. Any other questions?"_

 _Silence._

 _"Good. Now, we just have to figure out what the second part is. I'm guessing it's fairly obvious as well, if the pattern's checking out."_

 _Another short pause as everyone tried to think of something._

 _"..._ _ **all**_ _? Or something?" Marcus offered._

 _Nel nodded, typing some word combinations into the command block. There were constant beeps telling him it was incorrect until he finally found the right one._

 _"Got it!"_

 _"Really? What is it?" Sky asked, standing up from her sitting position on the floor._

 _"_ _ **/broadcast_all**_ _. Obvious enough that people wouldn't guess it because it was too simple."_

 _"So... We got a command. Now what?" Marcus frowned. "We still don't have a power source."_

 _"I've been thinking about that," Nel answered. "You know how the signs change to show the winners' names on the bottom of the test tubes? Well, redstone must be powering it, and it sends out a type of electric pulse that should hit the command block if we get it close enough. If we were actually playing Minecraft on the computer, this would never work, but in normal Minecraft, I can't input commands without actually putting the block down."_

 _"Okay, how are you going to get it down to the sign?"_

 _"I'm going to throw it over the edge of the glass." Nel said that like it was the most obvious thing in the world._

 _Which it really should have been, considering the situation, but still._

 _"Um... How do you know that will work?" Sky asked._

 _"I don't. It just has to be at the right angle and..." He threw it mid-sentence before anyone could tell him not to._

 _It landed on the very edge of the rim of the tube._

 _Marcus swore._

 _Sky shuffled in her bag some more._

 _Nel considered throwing his headphones at the block to make it fall._

 _A piece of stone made a high arc in the air, clunking down right next to the command block. The next clipped the edge of the block, pushing it closer to the drop._

 _A final piece came and pushed it off onto the iron floor below. Thankfully, it looked to Nel like it was still in range of the redstone. They had a minute before it turned the command on, so he looked for the source of the stone._

 _Sky was grinning madly, holding her last piece of building material in her hand. "You're welcome!"_

 _A buzz and a screech confirmed that the microphone was now on. Nel hoped that it was a very, very strong microphone._

 _ **"Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3..."**_

 **~Present~**

There were the heavy clomps of footsteps as the door hissed open, and the thunk of the ladder as it was set against Sky's tube.

The trapped three shared a grin before the girl climbed out.

There had just been a battle, and, however small the victory was, they had won.

* * *

 **And...cut!**

 **So, first off, I've gotta apologize for the super-late update. Life (read: homework) decided to slam down hard last week and I've just been really busy lately, but I made this chapter longer than usual to somewhat make up for it!**

 **For the sake of getting this update out on Monday, which is my personal deadline, I'm not doing review replies this chapter. I _love_ responding, but it takes up a bunch of time that I currently do not have. :(**

 **Spring Forward isn't helping any either. -_-**

 **Anyways, I wanna thank you guys for being patient and understanding and not doing 'Y U NO UPDATE' reviews.**

 **I've heard that they're really annoying, and just... thanks!**

 **A note: Third Cosmic Velocity (thank you, by the way) alerted me that I did, in fact, have an error in my math from last chapter. Nel should have had 4 atoms, which would've changed the standings completely. So, we're just saying the computer that calculated the results messed up, 'kay? :P**

 **So, my answer to last time's QoTC:...Why did I ask this, this is hard. Uhh... I really like SAO and Noragami. I'm also a huge Digimon anime nut, especially season 5. (But not the dub. Anything but the season 5 dub...)(On a semi-related note, I love the Pokèmon games, but dislike the recent seasons of the anime. Ash... No, just no. Fun facts about me!)**

 **New QoTC: Have you ever gotten out of a vehicle while it was still moving? (Shh, I don't know where I come up with these.)**

 **See you guys later,**

 **-Night :3**


	8. Chapter 7- Endings

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Dr. Zuk was not pleased. Okay, so maybe he had left them in the tube to test them, see how much they could take of being cooped up. They didn't have to _hack the speakers_ to get out!

Plus, they would have gotten out anyways...probably. Most likely.

Anyways.

He wasn't too happy with what that Raiden kid was doing, either. It was just plain rude. Come on, he 'suk'ed? That was juvenile.

Unfortunately for the testers, even though it was juvenile, it made him angry.

Perhaps he should change the reward into the punishment option. Yes, that would should teach them that this was serious, this was no longer a game.

He had been planning to give them an easy first game, with no losses or punishments.

They had ruined it for themselves.

 _No more Mr. Nice Guy._

 **xXx**

Jesse flipped through chests frantically in the cobwebbed stone tower, hoping that there was still, by some miracle, something left. He had a leather tunic and chain leggings (those were a _pain_ to get on), but no real weapon.

He had a stick, though. Herr Stick.

All obscure references aside, if he didn't find something decent, he was, to put it roughly, absolutely screwed.

The boy ran his fingers through his neon green hair frustratedly. Why are so many unlooted chests empty?!

He angrily stabbed Herr Stick at the wall, in the mortar between two loose stones in a cobblestone wall. If it were a normal stick in real life, it would have splintered. Being that this was Minecraft and the stick was a Minecraft stick, it cracked the mortar instead.

The two stones fell out of the wall and hit the floor with a loud thunk. Jesse cautiously turned one over in his hand, feeling the ground for the other one. The one he was holding seemed to be perfectly smooth, and the ground one-

"Ow!" he yelped, covering his mouth immediately in case someone had heard. He glanced down, seeing that the second rock had shattered into sharp pieces on impact with the ground. _How did I not hear that? Must be Minecraft physics or something..._

He experimentally scraped the sharp rock against the ground, watching the thin scratch it made. Better than nothing.

The boy looked around the room and eventually selected the strongest looking cobweb, pulling it down until it turned into string in his hand.

Jesse held the sharp stone against the edge of Herr Stick and wound the string around it tightly, tying it off with a (hopefully) strong knot. He smiled proudly at his newly made spear.

Breaking the laws of Minecraft had never been so easy!

 **"One minute!"**

 **xXx**

Richie gasped as he was teleported to the same stone platform he had begun on. They really needed to work on making the whole process less painful.

It hurt.

He pulled on his gold streak of hair nervously, a habit he had developed in the day and a half he had been here. The boy felt woefully underprepared for the deathmatch about to begin. He had a stone sword, which was good, and some leather armor, which was also good, but that wasn't the main problem.

He had no clue how to fight. When he played on the computer, all he had to do was spam-click the mouse button. Here, clearly it wouldn't be so simple.

 **"Welcome, Testers, to the final deathmatch!"**

...And he also had no time to think of a strategy. Yay.

 **"Originally, we were going to have you all just fight yourselves, but there turned out to be some difficulties with that. For one, to my knowledge, almost none of you know how to fight with the weapons you have.**

 **"So for this session, you will fight with hologram versions of yourselves, controlled by a keyboard and mouse."**

The dirt floor began changing into an iron one, and transparent green figures began forming in front of each player. Richie waved at his, noticing the similarities between it and himself as it waved back.

A green translucent keyboard shimmered into the air in front of him, along with a mouse of the same material. He ran his hands down the keys experimentally, surprised when it felt solid under his touch.

 **"The holograms will be equipped with the items you have currently. Even illegal or technically non-existent weapons,** ** _should_** **you have them."**

There were some nervous chuckles, and Richie could identify a spear, a small dagger, and a...firework launcher?...among the 'illegal' weapons.

 **"To recap on what to do for those who have forgotten or don't feel like going back two chapters to check, this is not the typical deathmatch. The goal is to die the least, while still getting the most kills. The person to die the most loses, and the person to kill the most wins."**

Richie readied his hands on the keyboard.

He was going to win this.

 **3...**

 **2...**

 **1...**

 **FINAL START**

 **xXx**

As Katelyn's fingers flew across the keyboard, she began to feel like she was in the real world again. She didn't know any of these people, and she was just sitting at her desk, getting ready to smash her little brother into the floor in whatever game he chose-

Kyle. Oh crud, _Kyle_. He had seen her disappear, so maybe he could get help!

But no one would believe him. Kyle used to have a very...active imagination, to the point where he said he saw things that no one else could. They got help for him when he turned eight, and he stopped 'making up' stories, but their parents never truly took him seriously on much, least of all someone disappearing through a computer screen. That was hardly believable on its own.

And then there was Katelyn, who wasn't on good terms with her parents in the first place. If she was gone, it would be assumed she had run away.

So, no chance there. Great. Just _great_.

Her mind was snapped back to the present as someone's-it looked like Sophie's- hologram took a swipe at her's. She quickly counterattacked by smashing the left click button and watched as the enemy hologram flashed red with each hit, then disintegrated into green shards as its health hit zero.

As she turned the avatar around to face its next opponent, her mind began to wander again. She went on autopilot, hands tapping the keys and clicking the mouse button. Someone swore, but she was already lost in her own thoughts again.

 _Well, maybe someone else will have someone notice they're gone. There's gotta be someone, right?_

 _...Right?_

The console buzzed sharply under Katelyn's fingers. She looked down, seeing that it had turned a transparent red. Her avatar was...

Oh.

Her avatar was dead. That would explain it.

As it respawned, she shook her head fiercely, clearing off the mental fog. She was here to win, not die, right? Then winning she would do.

The hologram finished reforming, and Katelyn sent it back out into battle. Her new target was a boy with some kind of gun-firework...thing. Thankfully for her melee sword, she snuck up on him while he was firing at a different warrior. Two swipes to the back and he was done; the boy must have taken some hits beforehand.

Her keyboard vibrated slightly as her fighter took a blow. She swung the hologram around just as the enemy struck again, dropping her health down to under two hearts. Katelyn cursed herself for not getting any armor as the keypad buzzed a final time and the avatar shattered once again.

She took a risk and glanced at the time, noting with some shock that it had been two minutes already.

 _Three left... 180 seconds left to win!_

 **xXx**

Darren swept through the fray of clashing holograms, scoring hit after hit on the fighting figures. He was like a machine, his PvP expertise coming back when placed in front of a keyboard. His sword cut through a boy, then attacked a girl on the opposite side.

He sparred with the girl, who had gotten decent armor, for a moment, paying little attention to his rapidly decreasing health bar. It didn't really matter in this game, seeing as they got to respawn as soon as they were killed. He slashed one final time before his console vibrated harshly and his figure vanished into red shards.

 _Tch. Oh, well. Let's go again!_

There was only a minute left, he noted, as he sent his figure back into battle. He hacked at the next hologram, glad he had picked up some armor. Chain was well worth the time it took to collect it, though it meant his sword wasn't as powerful as it could be.

Seriously, someone had gotten a diamond sword. Wow.

The person he was fighting shattered, and he heard a muttered curse from next to him.

Darren grinned. "Sorry, Sophie."

Twenty seconds, and the boy was still racking up kills. The guy with the diamond sword had defeated him a couple times, as had others. (But he had really low health then!) That didn't matter, though, because he knew he was going to win.

Well, okay, he didn't _know_ , but he _felt_ it, and that's what mattered, right?

Nothing interesting happened in the final seconds except killing. People were stabbed, bludgeoned, or fireworked to death. (Or to shattering, but really, it's the same thing.)

 **"Time's up!"**

The holograms dissolved, as did the keyboard. A scoreboard floated in midair, displaying the top three killers.

 **3\. MM-Sfall-41**

 **2\. WolfNeko43-52**

 **1\. DaMiningKing101-57**

Darren whooped, causing some chuckles from the people around him. He stopped short as the armor he was wearing vanished, taking a literal weight off his shoulders. His sword was next, simply disappearing from his hand into oblivion.

Dr. Zuk, along with the previous winners, teleported into the center of the deathmatch ring. Darren had a funny feeling the three had been force-teleported, judging by the way Sky seemed to be complaining to Marcus. Loudly.

 _Wait, why can't I hear them? They're not_ that _far away._

His question was answered as Nel stepped forward and appeared to smash into something. He stepped back, bewildered, and put his hands out as if feeling for something.

The other players in the ring had noticed too, and murmurs were floating around as they watched Nel talk to the other two, and saw Marcus and Sky press their hands against the invisible wall as well. Marcus looked like he was pushing against it, but he fell back soon enough and shook his head.

"Alright, testers, settle down." Dr. Zuk commanded. The talkers, who had gotten louder since the 'murmurs' stage, quieted. Well, except for one.

"Why are they stuck down there?" Jesse shouted. Mutters of assent filled the air. The trapped three looked confused, like they could see someone talking but couldn't actually hear them.

Wait. That's what was really happening. It made sense that it would go both ways.

Dr. Zuk muttered something unintelligible, and there was click as the speakers turned on. **"All will be explained in due time, Jesse.**

 **"Anyway, the game has ended. Now, those of you that remember, there were two choices for the end of the final challenge. I could either reward the winner, or... ah,** ** _punish_** **the loser."**

Darren gulped. He did not like the emphasis placed on that word.

 **"As it is your first game, I had planned to give the winner a reward, to keep it easy on you. Unfortunately,** ** _some_** **of you, with your childish antics, ruined that. Darren, that's why you're not getting a prize. Terribly sorry."**

The boy pouted, but stopped as a thought entered his mind. _No reward...that means the punishment...But who's getting it?_

 **"Yes, that means option two. The loser, who died a grand total of sixty-seven times, will face punishment.**

 **"...xXSpiritfeatherXx, or Sophie Garreth, please step forward."**

Darren's mind went blank. His...best...friend?! _No! I know she's bad at fighting, but...just no!_

The girl stepped off her platform, trembling slightly. The doctor smirked, unseen by the humans.

 **"Jesse, your question...they are trapped for my protection. As are you."**

Darren's eyes widened as he tried to move his arm. He failed.

 **"Sophie... Your punishment shall commence in.."**

 **3...**

 **2...**

 **1...**

 **PUNISH START**

A bright light surrounded Sophie, who raised her arm and looked at it quizzically.

As it grew brighter, she started screaming.

It looked almost like her form was trying to hold itself together. She was flickering into static, then completely gone, then clear again.

 _Oh God nonononopleaseno_

The light grew brighter, and her screaming began to grow in volume, sounding more like that of a wounded animal than of a human.

Her body turned to static and stayed that way, blurring out, then in.

Out, in. Out, in.

She was screaming all the while.

It was her arm that went first. It exploded into shards that floated up to the ceiling, then disappeared. Darren didn't think she even noticed. The worst part was that now he could hear words in the shrieks.

" _Please make it stop it hurtsithurtsithurts! Oh God anyone help please it hurts!_ "

Why did she get more human the farther gone she was?

He couldn't talk or move, just watch as his best friend shattered into pieces.

The final bit to go was her head, the screaming finally stopping. Minecraft biology, apparently, didn't need vocal cords, so she could keep screaming until she was gone.

 **"First one down. Status** ** _permanent_** **."** Darren could swear he saw a smirk on the doctor's face. _Permanent... Down...W-What does he mean...?_

Katelyn spoke first, her voice shaking. "W-what the hell did you do to her?!"

 **"Ever heard of 'survival of the fittest'? Your friend was not the fittest. So she did not survive."**

 _Oh no nonono he's not serious nononono_

His breath, which had been coming out and in in heavy pants, caught in his throat as he realized something.

She had been punished because she had been killed so many times.

He killed her.

Black pushed on the corners of his vision, and he hardly noticed as his legs refused to support him anymore and his body slumped against the side of the invisible container.

 _I killed her._

 _It's my fault._

 _It's my..._

 _...fault..._

And the sound of terrified screams rang through everyone's head long, long after they'd stopped.

 **xXx**

 **1 done.**

 **11 left for more fun.**

* * *

 **Well.**

 **That happened.**

 **In other news, I've made a cover for the story!**

 **If anyone has tips for using FF. net's photo editor, please tell me. I've tried, but it doesn't save... :(**

 **So... review replies!**

 ** _Third Cosmic Velocity-_ *cries* I'm sorry this one took long as ****well. In my defense, I had to rewrite the ending a few times :( There'll be more of the winning three in the next chapter. You have? I'm not the only one~ (::) (::) (::)**

 ** _Diamond-_ Yay, join the jumping-out-of-moving-vehicles club! (::) (::) (::)**

 ** _Raiden The OC-_ And the JOMV club takes another! No problem, you did submit him, after all! (::) (::)**

 ** _Dash master 48-_ I'm changing the club to the doing-dangerous-things-with-vehicles club so everyone can join! And no longer must you suffer from cookie withdrawal~ (::) (::) (::)**

 ** _ParadoxxFoxx-_ For some reason, your reviews aren't showing up in my inbox :\ I'm so glad you liked it! (::) (::) (::)**

 **My QoTC answer: Yes, but the car was moving fairly slowly. :P**

 **New QoTC: Have you ever travelled internationally? (Left the country where you live :3)**

 ** _Bonus: How many of you got the reference?_**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **-Night :3**


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